Epstein, by the way, sang the lead vocal on a face-melting rendition of "Sweet Child 'O Mine" in an ICCA quarterfinal in February. Therein lies the appeal. A cappella groups do not just sing an eclectic mix of popular songs -- anything from "Mr. Sandman" to "Enter Sandman" is fair game -- they attack them. Rearrange them. Choreograph them. Add vocal percussion, or beat-boxing, to them.

Performing a cappella allows one to be a juke-box hero without ever having had to buy -- much less learn how to play -- a beat-up six-string. It is also the triumph of the geek life over Greek life.

"A cappella is the dorks' answer to frats and sororities," says Hayley Cammarata, an ICCA official and former a cappella singer.

Sitting inside the Whalen Center, watching groupies swoon over undergrads who could not bench-press the bar (much less talk their way into one), you do feel as if you're watching the latest "Revenge of the Nerds" sequel. True, a fair number of male vocalists do sport tattoos -- of G Clefs.

Then there are the groan-inducing group names: Yale Law School's Habeas Chorus, American University's Treble in Paradise, and a troupe from Mount San Antonio College, a commuter school located in Walnut, who named themselves Fermata Nowhere. The sobriquet proved both witty ("fermata" is a musical notation) and prescient. In 2004, just three years after forming, Fermata Nowhere came from outta nowhere to finish second overall in the ICCA.

Clever. Corny. Captivating. College a cappella is all that. The most-viewed video on YouTube last December was an a cappella performance. Straight No Chaser, an all-male group from Indiana University, had their comic rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" viewed more than 7.5 million times. Go ahead and watch. I'll wait.

Clearly, a cappella has come a long way since Maverick and Goose butchered "You Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in Top Gun. That was in 1986. The number of collegiate a cappella groups has increased 10-fold since then. And yet, Maverick and Goose gravitated to a cappella for the same reasons that Mr. Keating's "Dead Poets' Society" (a de facto a cappella group, albeit with less vocal range) did, for the same reasons that so many male students do today: To woo women.

"When we perform it's like a rock concert," says James Stevens, musical director of Brigham Young's all-male Vocal Point, the 2006 national champions. "The first five rows are filled with screaming fans."

You mean screaming women?

"Yes, women," Stevens chuckles. "You hit the nail right on the head."

But competitive a cappella has no gender bias. Indeed, the reigning national champions are an all-female group from BYU, Noteworthy. What else, then, explains a cappella's burgeoning popularity among the Facebook crowd?

The reasons are manifold. The rise of hip-hop. Boy bands. The Sony Walkman, followed by the iPod. "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Digital recording. Musical notation software programs. The "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene from "Wayne's World." The kids' show "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" featuring Rockapella. American Idol.

"Personally, I think YouTube has had so much to do with it, too," says BYU's Stevens. "We've had more than 400,000 views of our performance of 'Thriller,' and I've had at least 40 requests by e-mail from other groups who want our arrangement."

That crossover effect is fascinating, and sometimes ironic. A troupe of Mormon men, for example, resuscitating one of Michael Jackson's greatest hits? Collegiate a cappella makes for strange bedfellows.

Indeed, the ethnic diversity and all-inclusiveness of collegiate a cappella is one of its more appealing aspects. The aforementioned Nonsequitur includes among its dozen vocalists an Asian, an Indian, two Hispanics and a female African-American beat boxer (or "vocal percussionist," as ICCA judges refer to them).

"Everybody has a voice," says Poonam Pai, a soprano with Columbia's Nonsequitur. "And you don't have to lug it around in a case."

Everyone has a voice. But not everyone has talent, nor the kind of drive to be the best in what has become the greatest marriage of college competition and musicianship since Drumline.

Print this Email this Blog this  IM this

MORE FROM OTHER SPORTS

Other sports Section Front

Gold medal moms prepare to storm Beijing   Softball players juggle diapers, bats   Back from the fall, Chelsea Davis eyes trip to Beijing Queen's granddaughter makes Olympic team Everest climbing resumes after torch delay   Quick thinking saves baseball player's life Some fans want ashes scattered at sports sites USOC proposes keeping Ueberroth Oldest league bowler dies at 106 years old   Lance Armstrong on fight for cancer research Other sports Section Front   Add Other sports headlines to your news reader: